Improvement in amalgamators



I @citan tstrs gstrut @ittica Letters Patent No. 76,538, dated April 7,1868.

IMPROVEMENT IN AMALGAM'ATORS.

4'tlge .rlgehnle referat tu in that ttttdattnt tnt meting ,satt nf tlgsamt.

To ALL WHoru 1T MAY ooNcERN:

Be it known that we, ROBERT SMITH and WILLIAM T. SMITH, of vGarondelet,in' the county of St. Louis, and State of lVlissouri, have made certainnew and useful Improvementsin Amalgamators; and we do'hereby declarethat the followingis a full and clear description thereof', refereiicebeing hadto the accompanying,

drawings, and to the letters of reference niark/ed`thereon.

The object of this invention is to produce an amalgamator for thereduction of argentiferous and anriferous ores in a more speedy andthorough manner than has yet heen' accomplished, and especially theauriferous lsulphurets.

I The' invention'consists in a peculiar arrangement of amalgam-troughs,having their bottoms inclined downward toward the back ends, which-.areset at an acute` angle to the bottom. The troughs thus constructed areto be operated so thatv the mercury and ore will settl down into theacute angle'at the back ends of the troughs, and'there be convolved bythe reciprocating action of the trough.

To enable those skilled in the art to make and use our improvedamalgamator, we will'procced to describe -its construction andoperation.

Figure l of the drawings is a central sectional elevation of theimproved amalgainator.

Figure 2 is a plan of the same; and

Figure 3 is'a central sectional elevationof one of the troughs on'anenlarged scale. A framework, A, is ereoted, from the top-beams A ofwhich theamalgam-troughs B B are suspended,vby

the rods b, or other equivalent devices. The ore to `berreduced is to bedelivered on the iuclinedflume C, mixedl witha proper quantity of water,and is to pass thence to the troughs B, through the apertures c. TheWater from the troughs B, mixed with dirt and some ore, will pass out atthe forwardopen end of the said troughs,

and fall on the apron D, whence it will pass down, through theaperturesd, into the troughs B', where it will be` again agitated, as inB,and -the water and dirt will again pass out at the open endsof thetroughs, as before, and fall on the apron E, whence lit will pass downinto the trough F, and escape. As there' are several of the troughs Bplaced side by side, and all receiving from the same luuie, C,swivel-guide blocks,-c, are placed on the floor of the ume, at theinfiuence of the several chutes, 02,-so that,` by turningthesaidguide-blocks to o ne side orthe other, as occasion may require,the quantity 0i' water andV ore admitted to each may be thus regulated.Similar swivellblocks, d, are likewse'placed on the apronA D, at theinlluence of the chutcslz, for the purpose of'ilegulating the quantityof water and ore passed to vthe troilghs B. Y The troughs B B beingsuspended on the rods or chains 6, as above ldescribed, they willbeagitated by a longitudinal reciprocating motion imparted to them bythe connectinglrods G, the said rods' being actuated .by cranks, on the4drivingshaft H. i i l I The bottomsrof the troughs are to be stepped orserrated, as most clearly shown in fig 3, and 'there may be two or moreof these serrationsto each ofthe troughs. While in opera-tion,thebottoms of these steps will rise lfrom the backend to the forward, atan angle of about ten degrees, (more or less,) and the rise at the backend of each step will' form an acute angle with it, ot' about eightydegrees, (more or less.) Into the acute angle which is thus'iormed atill/the ore and mercury will be co-nvolved in one mass by thelreciprocating action of the trough, as is represented by the red linesin iig. 3, and the surplus water and dirt will run oil` over the top,andout at the front end of the trough, as is represented by the bluelines in fig. 3. VThis peculiar convolving motion imparted to the oreand mercury, as above set forth, has been found, by experiment, to beexactly calculated to extract the gold and silver from the dross orbaser metals.

'When the troughs are to be unloaded, the bcams'A", at the Front ends ofthe troughs, will be slightlyraised byturning the shafts I forward, byImeans of the handles z', when the arms z" will raise both ends of thebeams up, and allow the operator to remove the blocks 1 from under theends of the said beams A', which will then drop down, and allow theforward ends ofI the troughs to be depressed sulicientlyto allow thecontents to run ont atthe open ends oi' the troughs. The contents willthen be secured in the boxes K, placed in the trough F, under theoutletsof the apron E. Should accident or breakage of machinery occur, thesmall trays L m'ight be instantly placed'under the outlets oiE, toreceive thc contents of the troughs.

Having described our invention, what we claim, is-

' 1. The amaigamating-trqughs' B', when their bottoms are serrated, undacute angles, b', formed at the back end oi' each Serration, asdescribed amd set forth.

,2. We claim the cuibination of two or morel sets ofamalgamating-troughs, B B', with the delivery-Hume C.; anddetributngfaprons D E, substantially in the manner and for the purposeherein shown und desmibed.l

3.V We claim the'swivel-guide bo`cks q and. d, when applied to th uuie Cand apron D, as described and set forth. t ,t

.4. We claim the arrangement of the shafts I, with their handles z', andlevers or arms i', when employed as .herein deeribed and shown,

' ROBERT SMITH,

WILLIAM T, SMITH,

Witnesses:-

M. RANDOLPH, GEO. P. HERTHEL,J1-.

